Due to command indecision, the Russian left flank is cut off. As the Russians attempt to cut their way out, Nicholas is wounded in the arm.
Due to command indecision, the Russian left flank is cut off. As the Russians attempt to cut their way out, Nicholas is wounded in the arm.
Book 2, Chapter 19
Due to command indecision, the Russian left flank is cut off. As the Russians attempt to cut their way out, Nicholas is wounded in the arm.
Summary:
The Russian right flank is able to retreat, thanks to an attack on the French by the Russian Sixth Chasseurs. In the center, Túshin’s relentless battery slows the French. On the left, masses of French troops pour forward. Zherkóv is sent to deliver an order from Bagratión that the left flank retreat. However, the useless Zherkóv becomes frightened and fails to deliver Bagratión’s order. Meanwhile, time is wasted as the hussar colonel of the Pávlograd regiment on the extreme left flank disputes an order given by the Russian general commanding the left flank. As the battle progresses, the left flank becomes cut off from the main Russian forces, leaving them no choice but to attack to try to cut their way out. The Russians launch a desperate charge on the French lines. Nikolai’s horse is shot during the charge. Horse and rider fall to the ground, the rider’s leg briefly pinned beneath the dying horse. Nikolai’s left arm is badly injured in the fall. He felt that something superfluous was hanging on his benumbed left arm. It felt as if the wrist were not his. French troops run by him. Nikolai throws his pistol at the French and runs for safety. He is incredulous that the French want to kill him. Nicholas reaches the bushes where the Russian sharpshooters are hidden in the woods.
quote from the chapter:
The general and colonel looked sternly and significantly at one another like two fighting cocks preparing for battle, each vainly trying to detect signs of cowardice in the other. Both passed the examination successfully. As there was nothing to be said, and neither wished to give occasion for it to be alleged that he had been the first to leave the range of fire, they would have remained there for a long time testing each other’s courage had it not been that just then they heard the rattle of musketry and a muffled shout almost behind them in the wood. The French had attacked the men collecting wood in the copse. It was no longer possible for the hussars to retreat with the infantry. They were cut off from the line of retreat on the left by the French. However inconvenient the position, it was now necessary to attack in order to cut a way through for themselves.
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1. There was no Austrians. The guy with German accent is the German-Russian colonel of Nikolay’s Hussar regiment (the same who was at the Rostov’s name day party).
2. Nikolay was not shot. His horse was killed and he injured his hand falling.
Thank you for pointing out my errors!
I replaced “Meanwhile, on the left flank, Russian and Austrian officers waste time arguing about what to do.” with the following:
“Meanwhile, time is wasted as the hussar colonel of the Pávlograd regiment on the extreme left flank disputes an order given by the Russian general commanding the left flank.”
I replaced “Nikolai is shot in the arm and knocked off his horse.” with the following:
“Nikolai’s horse is shot during the charge. Horse and rider fall to the ground, the rider’s leg briefly pinned beneath the dying horse. Nikolai’s left hand is badly injured in the fall and hangs uselessly from his benumbed left arm.”
Actually I should have wrote “injured his arm”. 🙂 There is no details on which part of his arm is injured but I’m not a native speaker of English and I had mixed up the words.
*should have written (oops, I did it again).
Thank you for the clarification. As you say, the exact location of the injury to his left arm is not specified.
I replaced “Nikolai’s left hand is badly injured in the fall and hangs uselessly from his benumbed left arm. ”
with
“Nikolai’s left arm is badly injured in the fall. He felt that something superfluous was hanging on his benumbed left arm. It felt as if the wrist were not his.”.